We have a tough game away at Championship leaders, St Mirren tomorrow. It will be our third meeting in the league this campaign, with Saints getting the better of us twice this season. We didn’t perform at our best the last time in Paisley in front of the TV cameras but we gave a better account of ourselves in Dumfries and managed to take a two goal lead within six minutes but due to some individual errors and some quality finishing they managed to take all three points with a narrow three-two victory.
Manager Gary Naysmith has been reflecting on a busy week and looks ahead to the game.
“I was pleased with the result last weekend against Brechin City and three valuable points that we gained in the process. They have improved a lot since we played them on the opening day of the season and made it tough for us, but we were at it from the first whistle and got off to a great start. Stephen Dobbie showed his quality with yet another hat-trick. Another positive for us was the contribution from our young players, by the time we finished the game we had a very young midfield three who competed well and done a decent job.
Last week the pressure was all on us, we were firm favourites to win the game and with Brechin still looking for their first league win, it was important we didn’t slip up. It will be a different test again this weekend against the league leaders. Jack and James have assembled a very good team who are playing with confidence and I expect they will go on and win the league. It’s probably the hardest game we will get; they are on a good run and will make it tough for us. But we know we can compete and feel we haven’t done ourselves justice in the previous games against them, we need to learn from the mistakes we made and correct the two results.
It’s been a busy week off the park for us with the close of the transfer window. I have to say I’m happy with the changes we have made to the squad during January, I feel we have strengthened.
Myles Beerman, Joe Thomson and Kyle Cameron were all brought in early on and have settled in well. This week we have added Dom Thomas and Nikolay Todorov. Dom is a player we know well from his previous spell with us, but he has gone away and gained more experience so we hope that he can replicate what he gave us then and more this time around. On the final day of the window, we managed to secure Nikolay, a player who knows what to expect in the Championship having been at Livingston. Standing at six foot two, I feel he offers us a different option upfront.
I have to thank the Board and the player’s parent clubs for making these deals happen.
During the window we lost Callum Tapping and Andy Stirling, I feel it was right for both the players and ourselves for them to go at this time, especially Andy who will benefit from playing regular football. We wish them both well.
As well as players coming and going we managed to extend Callum Fordyce’s current deal and secured him for another season. As I said at the time, Callum has been a key member of our squad this season and I’m delighted we have him for another year. He is now fully back in the squad after his hamstring injury.
However, Derek Lyle has suffered a knock and is doubtful for this weekend. Kyle Jacobs, Jordan Marshall and Dan Carmichael all continue to make progress but will be a few weeks yet. We will of course have Dom and Nikolay in the squad for our trip to Paisley and 17 year old defender, Dan Harvey will also be in the squad”.
Kick off tomorrow is 3pm. Tickets for away supporters will be available on the day from the North Stand Ticket Office. Prices are: £20 Adults, £12 Concessions (Over 65's / 13 - 17 year olds / disabled / full time students, with valid ID) and £5 for 12 years old & under.